Obama does ESPN radio

Mar. 20, 2014
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President Obama / Win McNamee, Getty Images

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

While President Obama announced new sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine dispute, his taped voice popped up on ESPN radio.

Continuing efforts to persuade young men to sign up for health care, Obama appeared on Colin Cowherd's radio show to make his pitch and talk about his picks in the men's college basketball tournament (which were televised by ESPN earlier this week).

"If you don't have health insurance, you are vulnerable to financial hardship and medical hardship," Obama said at one point in the pre-taped interview.

As for men's March Madness -- Obama is picking Michigan State to beat Louisville in the final -- the president said he went mostly with favorites in his brackets because "I haven't seen enough games to find the true dark horses out there."

Obama's picks for the women's college basketball tournament will be broadcast later this week, also on ESPN.

After the radio interview, Cowherd noted that he has many young male listeners, the kind of people Obama needs to sign up in order to finance the health care plan.

"He's looking for access to sell his health care initiative, I totally get it," Cowherd said, while ESPN and other media outlets are are looking for access to the president of the United States.